Mushoku Impact

Thomas was not happy. Despite spending his later teen and early adult years helping his family's landscaping business, the only thing he had to show for it was a reasonably fit body undermined by lower back and knee pain. His hard-earned savings had gone towards paying for his first two years of college, but due to the economic crisis and three tax increases, he still ended up being saddled with more than $35,000 of Student Loan Debt.
When he first graduated, Thomas still had hope. His GPA was a solid 3.8, and, despite growing up in the rural countryside of Illinois, his passion for tech was second to none. At the very least, that's what Thomas believed until he got his first entry-level job at a company infamous for walk-offs and high staff turnover.
With a strict father and a strong work ethic, Thomas was one of the few people that never complained no matter how bad things got. He believed his hard work would eventually be recognized, and, after a few years, he would begin his inevitable climb up the economic ladder.
Contrasting Thomas's expectations, the company employed him for three years without a single pay increase. When he eventually brought it up to his Manager, they made up a story about his poor work ethic, threatened to fire him if he didn't fall in line, and eventually did so when he refused to accept it.&nbsp;
To add insult to injury, the company Thomas had been working for filed an official reprimand against him. From that moment on, he became a pariah in the industry, wholly unable to find work.
Following his dismissal, Thomas attempted to sue his former company for wrongful termination and slander, but his mounting debts prevented him from proceeding with the case. In the end, he had no choice but to settle down and return to landscaping, a job that was quickly wrecking his body.
Unless the weather prevented it, Thomas would wake up around 5:30 AM Mon-Sat. After that, he would go to work mowing people's yards, topping off their trees, trimming their shrubs, mulching gardens, and laying down grass pallets. By the time he was finished, the Sun was creeping towards the horizon around 6-7PM.
After twelve hours of exhaustive labor, Thomas was left with very little energy to expend on other things. Alcohol had claimed his mother in a car accident when he was eight, so he couldn't even drink his sorrows away like his father. Instead, he would just hole himself up in his room after a long bath, silently lying in bed as he scrolled through novels on his kindle or played games on his smartphone.
Though his interest in fantasy novels and video games had technically led to his downfall, they were two of the only things that added even a hint of color to Thomas's life. He would often imagine himself as the Protagonists of various worlds, confident that his hard-working nature would allow him to succeed in virtually any world that wasn't his own, fucked up reality.
One of the games Thomas had gotten into most recently was a Mobile/PC game called Genshin Impact. Growing up on a farm in the most rural part of the United States had ingrained in him some admittedly bigoted views towards the Chinese, but his time in college had changed that. He wasn't particularly fond of their government, but their culture was fascinating to the point Thomas had often imagined himself reincarnating in cultivation worlds.
Though he didn't start playing until the 1.9 Update, Thomas really enjoyed Genshin Impact. In his opinion, not enough games made proper use of an open world. Genshin Impact was one of the few exceptions, so much so that Thomas spent the first four days of playing just exploring the world in search of chests, Anemoculus, and Geoculus.
Unfortunately, as enjoyable as the gameplay was, Genshin Impact was ultimately a Gacha Game, the type of game that required you to gamble just for minuscule odds of obtaining rare characters and weapons.
Though he did his best to stay F2P(Free-to-Play) for as long as possible, Thomas ultimately yielded to the Gacha Gods during the Raiden Shogun Banner. He had missed the opportunity to acquire some of the strongest characters in the game, so he wanted to obtain at least one of the Seven Archons before Raiden was invariably added to the list of characters that never got a re-run.
When everything was said and done, Thomas ended up spending close to $850 just to obtain a C3 Raiden Shogun. He had a few thousand dollars in the bank, but it was still a heavy blow to his wallet, a blow made heavier when he realized he couldn't even upgrade Raiden without advancing the story and completing the Inazuma content.
By the time Thomas completed Inazuma, several other banners had come and gone. A few of these included characters considered 'must haves' for the late game, so Thomas found himself spending hundreds of dollars on C6 Xingqiu, C2 Kokomi, and C3 Tartaglia(Childe).
After getting in the groove of spending, Thomas no longer hesitated even when his bank started sending him texts informing him he was spending beyond the limits he had established for himself. Playing Genshin Impact and reading were the only things that made Thomas happy, so even when he exceeded spending upwards of 40% of his income on Gacha, he didn't care. Others spent just as much on drugs, sex, smoking, and alcohol. At least his hobbies wouldn't kill him. At the very least, that's what Thomas believed until he had a catastrophic brain hemorrhage while trying to C6 his Hu Tao...
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("What the fuck...!?")
Feeling a sensation similar to an elevator starting, Thomas attempted to open his eyes and grasp the closest thing to him. He managed to do both, but everything in his vision was ridiculously bright and blurry. All he could tell for sure was that he had been picked up by a pair of hands that were somehow large enough to wrap around his entire torso.
Struggling violently, Thomas attempted to break free from the monstrous entity that was picking him up. His body felt weaker than it would after a sixteen-hour workday, but Thomas managed to flail and kick as if his life were on the line.
*Sounds of a man and woman speaking in a foreign language.*
Hearing the soft voice of a woman and the deep voice of a man ostensibly trying to comfort him, Thomas slowly ceased his desperate struggles. His heart and mind were still racing, but instead of feeling fear, a burgeoning &nbsp;sense of excitement began to permeate his entire body as he mentally exclaimed, ("Holy shit! Please don't let this be a dream...!")
Believing he had been reincarnated with his memories intact, Thomas's excitement reached the point that a peal of infantile laughter emanated from his throat. The man he presumed to be his father was more than a little surprised by this, but, moments later, he supplied a laugh of his own before placing Thomas against his chest and saying something in a voice the latter couldn't understand.
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As exciting as the prospect of reincarnation was, Thomas found being a baby extremely inconvenient. All he did was eat, sleep, and soil himself for the first few weeks of his life. His body was so weak that he couldn't even raise his head from his cradle. To make matters worse, he couldn't make out anything but blurry shapes for the first two and a half weeks of his existence.
Fortunately, Thomas's vision wasn't impaired. Just as he was beginning to believe he would spend the rest of his life wearing glasses, he awoke one morning to find the rails of his cradle in focus. He could also make out the pattern on his sheets, so, at the very least, he wasn't completely blind.
One of the first things Thomas noticed with his newfound sight was that the entire world seemed to be covered in some kind of hazy, cel-shaded filter. Even his hands were a rich and creamy shade of beige, almost like an exceptionally skilled artist had painted them.
Though he dared not believe it at first, Thomas giggled like an idiot when a young woman wearing a maid outfit entered his nursery. He wasn't able to see her at first, but once she leaned over to pick him up, Thomas got a clear view of her aesthetically pleasing yet distinctly cartoonish features. He had absolutely no idea how such a thing was possible, but she looked like an anime character that had stepped into the real world.
Seemingly amused by Thomas's reaction, the bespectacled, black-haired Maid adopted a smile as she cheerfully said something in the language he didn't understand. Then, after carrying him over to a small yet expensive-looking piece of furniture, she said something else with a vibrant smile on her face before promptly plopping out her perky and full breasts...
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By focusing on 'training' his body every single day, Thomas was able to raise his head, roll over, and even crawl by the time he was four months old. He had the distinct impression that the gravity of his new world was weaker than that of the Earth he was familiar with, but that was nothing compared to the other discoveries he had made.
Though he could barely understand more than a few words, Thomas had managed to sus out his name after hearing it repeated hundreds of times. His father had named him Paul, a relatively disappointing discovery until he heard one of the Maids addressing his father as Lord Notos.
While the name Notos might not resonate with everyone, it meant a lot to Thomas, now known as Paul. After all, it was a name he recognized from his past life. More specifically, there had been a character named Paul Notos Greyrat in one of the novels he read many years ago. The reason it was still fresh in his mind was because it had recently been made into an anime prior to his death.
Paul was a little disappointed that he hadn't reincarnated as the original protagonist, a boy named Rudeus Greyrat, but it didn't bother him. After all, the original Paul ultimately went on to be the father of Rudeus. Unless the reincarnated Paul followed an identical route, the plot of the original series didn't matter in the slightest. As far as the latter was concerned, he was now the main character of his own life.
If there was anything Paul could complain about, it was his apparent lack of a cheat. He had his knowledge and memories from his previous life, but a Master's Degree in Game Art and Design wouldn't get him very far in a fantastical world filled with swords, magic, and monsters.
After trying and failing to summon his 'system' more times than he could count, Paul concluded that the only things he had to depend upon were his status as the First Son of a Great Noble House, Paul's inherent talent for Touki, the energy typically used by swordsmen, and his strong work ethic.
In his previous life, Paul had convinced himself that he would thrive in a fantasy setting through pure hard work. Being the son of a Greater Noble was already a pretty massive golden spoon. He just needed to work hard, and he would eventually become the Lord of the most prosperous region in the Asura Kingdom, the most powerful nation in the world. That, alone, could be considered a cheat. With twenty-eight years of supplementary life experience to pull from, he may as well be suckling a diamond spoon rather than a young woman's breasts...
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As inconvenient as infancy and childhood were, Paul learned to enjoy it. Sure, he had people constantly watching over him, but that wasn't a bad thing. They just wanted to keep him safe, and he wasn't arrogant enough to think he was entitled to be independent just because he had memories from his past life. After all, no amount of knowledge and insight changed the fact he was a toddler.
Seeing no reason to go about pretending he was some super prodigy, Paul spent the first three years of his life learning the Human Language, how to read and write, and the basics of etiquette. The former took him longer than he would have liked to admit, but he blamed that on the US's education system. They only taught secondary languages in High School, long after the 'ideal' period for learning a new language.
Fortunately, Paul had unlimited access to educational resources and people who were willing to teach him. The moment his esteemed father, Lord Amarant Notos Greyrat, learned of his appetite for knowledge, he immediately employed a Governess famous for teaching members of the Royal Family. Paul's mother, Valentine Notos Greyrat, also doted on him quite a bit, so he never lacked in conversation partners.
Paul's only complaint was, much like the original, he had absolutely no talent for magic. He could feel 'something' when he focused his mind, but that was about it. Instead, he made up for his lack of magical aptitude by possessing enhanced instincts an almost unreasonable amount of visual acuity. In particular, his kinetic vision, his ability to track moving objects bordered on superhuman.
A few months before Paul's third birthday, his father had taken him out for a stroll through one of the many vineyards that encircled the county-sized Notos Estate. A magical creature known as a Panterabat had attempted to swoop down and seize him, but Paul managed to leap to the side due to a shiver passing through his body moments prior. He ended up faceplanting into the ground, but a bloody nose was a small price compared to having a cat-like bat sink its teeth into the base ff his neck and skull.
As terrifying as that incident was, Paul walked away from it feeling more excited than trepidatious. It was the first time he had gotten to witness his father's skill as an Intermediary Swordsman, a single step above the Beginner Rank yet far beyond the level of anything present in his previous world.
Though the original Paul was a prodigy that had managed to reach the Advanced Rank in all of the major sword schools, those being the Sword God, Water God, and Northern God Styles, the reincarnated Thomas had far greater ambitions. He had no intention of settling down and becoming a simple town guard at the relatively young age of nineteen. Instead, he planned to, at the very least, reach the Rank of Sword King.&nbsp;
While there was a literal army of people willing to die for and protect him, Paul knew the only surefire method to guarantee survival was becoming strong enough to defeat anything that crossed your path. The notion of slicing the head of a 20m snake or cutting through fortress walls with a simple sword also made his heart palpitate, so there was no way in hell he was going to settle on being a 'normal' human.
Though his father had forbidden him from practicing swordsmanship until he was five, Amarant had no problem with Paul learning the fundamentals and observing others. For a time, he had even behaved as Paul's teacher, eagerly demonstrating his relatively meager and somewhat rusty skills in the hopes of impressing his son.
Fortunately for Amarant, Paul was more than impressed by his father's performance. Seeing a middle-aged, slightly chubby man moving with the finesse of an Olympic athlete as he cut through tree branches and thatch mannequins was quite the sight to behold.
Amarant's downfall came when Paul asked him about Touki, colloquially known as Battle Aura. He was familiar with the concept and could even use it thanks to decades of training, but only a Sword Saint could claim to have a proper grasp of the coveted ability. Touki, and their mastery over the Longsword of Light, the ultimate technique of the Sword God School, were what denoted them as Saints.
While it was a simple feat for Amarant to employ a famous Governess to teach his son, hiring someone at the level of a Sword Saint would cost a small fortune. It was rumored that there were less than 100 in the entire world, so, unless you ventured to the Holy Land of the Sword, even just finding one was remarkably difficult.
Though the Notos Family employed two Sword Saints to protect their territory, Amarant wasn't comfortable asking them to demonstrate for his son. Nepotism may be widespread in the Asura Kingdom, but he didn't want his one and only son to become a spoiled brat. He hoped that Paul would grow in a wise and capable Lord, not someone who wielded their power and authority as if it were a birthright.&nbsp;
Fortunately, the Academy Amarant would be sending Paul to when he reached five years of age had an Advanced Practitioner of the Water God Style. She had nearly reached the Rank of Saint at the age of 25 but was unable to due to an injury. Since then, she had been teaching Nobles and their children how to protect themselves using the Water God Style, the most practical and defensive of the three schools of swordsmanship.
Confident that Paul would learn everything he needed to know once he started school, Amarant told him to focus on learning how to read and write. The literacy rate of the Asura Kingdom was estimated to be around 8%, so it would give him a significant advantage over his peers if he were able to read and write by the age of five...
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Staring out the window of his private study, Paul couldn't help having a pensive expression on his face as he watched his father, a 44-year-old man, 'playfully accosting' one of their more recent hires, a 14-year-old girl from a lesser noble family. The Asura Kingdom had the tradition of having each of their children beyond the first two serve as the maids, butlers, or guards for other Noble Houses. Since humans were considered 'adults' as young as ten, it led to some rather...discomforting situations.
"The people on Twitter would lose their minds if they witnessed a scene like this..."
Instead of attempting to resist Amarant's advances, Paul could tell that the much younger girl was actively grinding against him as he groped her rather prominent breasts and whispered into her ear. She pretended to be hanging the laundry, but she had been holding up the same sheet for the better part of ten minutes.
As Paul had anticipated, it wasn't long before his father hiked up the back of the Maid's long skirt and lowered the front of his trousers. Not wanting to see what came next, Paul shook his head before sliding off of his chair and perusing the many books lining the bottom two shelves of his private library. Most were still far beyond his current ability, especially the magic tomes, but that didn't deter him. After all, even Ghislaine and Eris, two of the densest characters in the original series, had been able to master the basics of magic.
While the original Paul may not have possessed any talent for magic, the reincarnated Thomas wasn't going to give up. So long as he could get his foot in the door, he could gradually increase his aggregate mana reserves. Training during the developmental years of one's childhood was the only way to increase the mana capacity of the body. Touki and mana were, in essence, the same thing, so even if he had to stare at the page until his brain and eyes bled, Paul was determined to comprehend at least a single spell before his tenth birthday.
*tok tok tok*
"Master Paul, are you in there? If so, please allow me to enter."
Just as Paul was preparing to crack open a book comically called 'Even You Can Learn Magic!' a soft rapping sounded at his door. Recognizing the voice, he immediately fixed his expression and posture before inhaling a half-breath and replying, "Please, enter." in a conditioned voice.
"Pardon the intrusion."
Upon receiving permission to enter, a lovely yet middle-aged woman with silver-blond hair entered the room. She had sharp and intelligent features that, at one time, would have made her the talk of the town. Even now, at the startling age of 72, she retained a bit of her youthful splendor thanks to her status as an Advanced Water Magician. Her never-smiling face had a number of prominent wrinkles, but she was still remarkably slender and perky for a senior. Her well-tailored purple dress made that very apparent.
Seeing the thick tome on Paul's desk, the elderly yet middle-aged-looking woman, Tabitha, raised her brows and asked, "Still trying to learn magic? I must commend your resolve, but there are far more relevant matters you could be studying."
Without so much as a single change in his expression, Paul, despite being three and a half years old, calmly replied, "That may be so. However, how I choose to spend my free time is ultimately up to me. If I only focused on things others wanted me to know, I would never learn the greater secrets of this world."
Though she maintained her characteristically grim countenance, Tabitha nodded her head in approval, stating, "Well said, Master Paul. The Milbots Region is truly fortunate to have such a capable young master as its next Lord."
Placing his hand over his chest, Paul responded to Tabitha's praise with a slight bow. One of the first things he had taught him was to never verbally acknowledge someone's praise unless the person giving it was of a much higher position than him. Tabitha was his Governess, but their status was worlds apart. If he was heard accepting her praise, she could literally be jailed on the grounds of trying to groom or manipulate him.
In Asuran Aristocratic society, those in higher positions had near-absolute authority over those in lesser positions. As the first son of one of the Four Great Noble Houses, Paul could outright 'purchase' the sons or daughters of lesser noble houses on a complete whim, and their parents would have 'no choice' but to hand them over.
The world of Mushoku Tensei was fantastical, but it was also one of the darkest stories Paul, then Thomas, had ever read.
Offering the faintest of smiles, so indiscernible that Paul couldn't even make it out, Tabitha supplied, "Very good." before going on to add, "Now, on to the purpose of my visit. Your mother has requested your presence in her chambers. Shall I have someone carry you...?"
Due to the size of the Notos Manor, it was easy to get lost and remarkably challenging for a child to navigate. Paul's father had given him a mansion-sized wing as his play area. If he wanted to reach his mother's chambers, he would need to traverse more than a kilometer and numerous flights of stairs. Could he? Sure. It would just exhaust him.
Nodding his head in affirmation, Paul calmly replied, "That is acceptable." before waiting as Tabitha clapped her hands to summon one of the only non-humans in the Notos Estate, a 'young' Dwarven girl that Paul's father had purchased for him after he expressed an interest in Dwarven culture and blacksmithing.&nbsp;
Bowing to the point she created a ninety-degree angle with her body, the childish-looking but 27-year-old Dwarf said, "Lamilette of Crystal Snow is eager to be of service to her Lord, Master Paul Notos Greyrat."
Gesturing with his right hand, Paul said, "Rise." while doing his best not to cringe. Even if she was twenty-seven, Lamilette resembled a human child no older than ten. Even adult Dwarves were only around 120-128cm, so, if anything, she looked younger. The only difference was that her legs and arms were noticeably thicker, while her orange hair was akin to steel wool in terms of toughness.
Raising her head, Lamilette offered a courteous nod before turning around and squatting down. She was the only servant that 'officially' belonged to Paul, so, while it was possible to arrange another transport, the 'duty' was hers to bear. Paul wasn't comfortable with this notion, but, understanding that things wouldn't end well if he had 'no use' for Lamilette, he ultimately climbed onto the petite yet remarkably robust girl's back and allowed her to carry him to his mother...

Chapter 1: MI01: An Unorthodox Beginning